The Prague Communiqué of 2001
Measuring the Impact of the Bologna Process on Higher Education
Sep 19, 2009
In 1999, Ministers of Higher Education from 29 European countries met in Bologna, Italy, to discuss ways of improving higher education in Europe. The resulting Bologna Declaration established broad goals for increasing international competitiveness, academic mobility, and graduate employability within the European community. To implement those goals, it was agreed that a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) would be created by 2010. Furthermore, in order to measure progress, the Bologna Process would be assessed at regular two-year intervals, with the first assessment scheduled in the Czech Republic.
Reviewing the Lourtie Report
On May 18, 2001, European Ministers met in Prague to review what had been accomplished in the two years since the Bologna Declaration had been signed. To assist the Ministers in their review, a summary report (“Furthering the Bologna Process”) was prepared and submitted by Professor Pedro Lourtie and members of his commission.
The Lourtie report (2001) affirmed that the aims of the Bologna Declaration had been widely accepted and used as a basis for improving higher education in the 29 signatory countries. Using the report as a guide, the Ministers examined what steps had been taken since 1999 to achieve the Bologna Process objectives.
Assessing Progress Toward the EHEA
The Bologna Declaration set forth six objectives that were necessary in order to create the EHEA by 2010. The Prague Summit on Higher Education summarized progress toward those objectives:
- Standardizing Degrees: The European Ministers encouraged higher education institutions to take advantage of current national legislation to ensure that degrees, credit systems, and qualifications were comparable throughout the European community.
- Two-Cycle Degree System: While some universities already had adopted an undergraduate and graduate degree structure, still others were in the process of considering it. Thus, more progress was needed.
- Uniform Credit System: The European Ministers noted that various credit systems had been explored since 1999, but maintained that a system based on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), or one compatible with it, was preferred.
- Academic Mobility: In 2000, the European Council in Nice adopted a Mobility Action Plan, which stressed the need to remove barriers to movement for students, teachers, researchers, and administrative staff. While acknowledging that mobility was not a subject for binding guidelines, the European Ministers still affirmed a goal of creating a voluntary European Mobility Charter by 2004.
- Educational Quality Assurance: The European Ministers encouraged higher education institutions, national agencies, and the European Network of Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) to work together to create “a common framework of reference” for quality assurance throughout the European community.
- European Dimensions in Higher Education: To meet this objective, the European Ministers urged higher education institutions to “increase the development of modules, courses and curricula at all levels” with a specific European content.
Setting Future Priorities for the Bologna Process
In addition, the European Ministers established three future priorities for the Bologna Process:
- Lifelong Learning: The European Ministers agreed that learning should not be promoted as a temporary educational phenomenon, but something to be nurtured throughout life. Within a future EHEA, lifelong learning strategies were needed to face competitive challenges and to “improve social cohesion, equal opportunities and the quality of life.”
- The Role of Students in Higher Education: In order to shape the future of the EHEA, students needed to be accepted as equal partners in higher education. To this end, students were encouraged to participate in curricular review, suggest new programs that would serve the needs of future employers and thus increase employability, and “take account of the social dimension in the Bologna process.”
- Promoting the Attractiveness of the EHEA: The European Ministers recognized the need to make European education more attractive not just to Europeans, but to students, teachers, and researchers around the world. The Ministers stressed that “the quality of higher education” was “an important determinant of Europe's international attractiveness and competitiveness.” To achieve this priority, higher education institutions were called upon to create new programs and to develop transnational education throughout the European community.
Finally, the European Ministers agreed to admit four new countries for membership: Croatia, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, and Turkey.
From Prague to Berlin
The results from the 2001 meeting were published as the Prague Communiqué. By this time, 33 signatory countries had approved the principles of the Bologna Declaration.
The 2003 assessment of the Bologna Process was scheduled to be held in Berlin, Germany.
References
Lourtie P. "Furthering the Bologna Process: Report to the Ministers of Education of the signatory countries." Bologna Process website. 2001.
Prague Communiqué. "Towards the European Higher Education Area." Communiqué of the meeting of European Ministers in charge of Higher Education in Prague. Bologna Process website. 2001.
Prague Summit on Higher Education. Conference of European Ministers in Charge of Higher Education. Prague, May 18–19, 2001.
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